On a more frivolous subject - Today the navy retires the F-14 Tomcat.
As a kid, this was the plane I dreamt about growing up to fly. I remember my dad telling me about planes that could shoot down the enemy at a range of 200 miles. "Never even see the enemy," dad would say. He was talking about this bird.
The truth was a little more modest:
A Tomcat with six AIM-54 Phoenix missiles and a AWG-9 radar system could track two dozen targets while engaging six of them at better than 100 miles.
The targets would need to be bomber-sized, and the only test of this had results that were always charitably interpreted - but still! It was a cool bird, swing wings and then there was VF-84 paint scheme which was multiple shades of kick-ass.
It was a movie star (Final Countdown, Top Gun, Executive Decision) it was....
...it was pricey. It cost Thirty-six million per unit. A full salvo for an F-14 cost over two million.
..and it was old.
Still, it was the plane I was stuck on as a kid, and while it's had a good run - it's still a bit sad to see it sent off to the boneyard like any other relic.
One more icon crossed off the list.
4 comments:
Monty is miffed at you for your title.
Yeah, but Monty's part bison, so I can still miss the bison-part of him.
I never miss a cat.. he he he
I remember putting together a model of this fighter way back when. It took forever to prime the parts, paint the parts, and glue it all together. I really hated the decals. Anyway, this plane will be missed.
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